Warping machine



Aug. 23, 1938. E. R. ALDERMAN WARPING MACHINE Original Filed April 9, 1934 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR EUGENE R.ALDERMAN A TORNEYS E. R. ALDERMAN WARPING MACHINE Original Filed April 9, 1934 4 Sheets-Sheet 5 EUaE/VE BALM/emu AT ORNEYS Aug. 23, 1938. E. R. ALDERMAN WARPING MACHINE 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 Original Filed April 9, 1934 pry,

' INVENTOR EUGENE R.ALDRMA 1v ATTORNEYS Patented Aug. 23, 1938 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFIE Application April 9, 1934, Serial No. 719,694 Renewed May 8, 1936 6 Claims.

This invention relates to warping machines and particularly to a novel construction of warp beam and winding means therefor.

The object of the invention in its general aspoet is to provide means for beaming a complete warp directly from a creel at high speed and in a manner to allow the insertion of lease cords at intervals throughout the warp whereby the beam when loaded may be transferred direct- 10 1y to a slasher and. beamed off to supply a full complement of yarns to a loom beam.

It has been the practice heretofore in warping silk and the better grades of rayon to beam the warp in the first instance by winding separately several sections of warp laid side by side on a relatively large diameter unflangedwarping reel or mill, during which beaming operation the lease cords are inserted in the warp to run in alignment through the several sections thereof. After 20 this operation is completed the several warp sections are simultaneously beamed off onto a section beam of smaller diameter with straight end flanges to hold the warp in compact form which is then transferred to the slasher for being beamed off onto the loom beam. The present invention provides means for entirely eliminating one of the steps in the above described beaming operation, namely, the step af beaming off from the large mill onto the section beam which lat- 30 ter is transferred to the slasher. My improved warp beam is so constructed as to fulfill the requirements of and in a greatly improved manner perform the functions of both the large mill and section beam above described. Machinery cost as Well as the time consumed in the beaming operation will be materially reduced thereby. Furthermore, the design and arrangement of the present improved Warp beam and its winding means is such that a very much higher speed 40 for winding the warp may be attained than is the case with the large mill referred to, thereby still further improving the economy of operation. The Warping machine of this invention is equally well adapted for beaming silk, rayon, wool, worsteds, cotton or other yarns although its greatest advantage with respect to prior apparatus will be found in beaming silk and high grade rayons or woolen yarns wherein it is desirable to have lease cords inserted in the beamed warp.

It will facilitate the understanding of the improvement to give a brief explanation of the method of beaming which is employed in my machine. The warp beam is constructed as a smooth cylinder with a diverging cone-shaped end of such dimensions as to hold the full number of ends or yarns'necessary for supplying a loom beam, said ends being preferably wound an the warp beam in separate groups or warp sections laid side by side along the beam axis. Each warp section as supplied by a creel is separately Wound on the beam to a depth or thickness which will bring its peripheral surface substantially flush with the enlarged outer cone end of the beam and thereby give a yardage length sufficient for several loom beams. During the winding operation a slight traverse of the beamed on yarn sheet is effected to form the section with oppositely coned ends, the concave end of the first section overlying the cone end of the beam and with its convex end exposed until the succeeding section is laid against it. As each section is being Wound lease cords may be inserted between any predetermined convolutions and left extended from the exposed cone end thereof until the corresponding convolutions of the next or succeeding sections are wound adjacent there to when said lease cords may be successively extended through all of the sections at the same intervals and in straight alignment from end to end of the beamed warp. The radius of the enlarged cone end of the beam will determine the thickness of body of yarn making up each section and therefore the yardage therein, while the angle of inclination of the cone surface relative to the cylinder surface of the beam will determine the spread of the warp axially of the beam as required by theformation of the cone ends. In a general way this angle should be as steep as possible to prevent undue spreading of the warp and consequent lengthening of the beam axis and yet not so steep but what the exposed ends of each section as wound will stand up in self supporting formation. Ihave found that starting with a beam cylinder radius of relatively small size, say nine inches, and making the radius of the enlarged end of the cone approximately double the size of that of the cylinder, a cone section may be laid on the cylinder to a depth for giving a yardage many times the length of the average warp of a loom beam and by having the angul'arity of said cone surface in the order of from 15 to relative to the cylinder surface I may lay on a warp beam of normal length the number of sections desired to supply a full complement of ends for the loom beam. Furthermore, by designing the Warp beam in approximately the proportions and in the relations stated it may be beamed directly from the creel and then transferred from the warping machine to the slasher for the sizing of the yarns with the same facility as the usual section beam. When transferred to the slasher, the several warp sections are simultaneously unwound from my warp beam to supply the full width of yarn sheet and number of ends for the warp of the loom beam, and during this beaming oif operation a traverse of the warp beam should be effected which corresponds exactly but in reverse direction to the traverse which was effected during the winding on of each section whereby the yarns may be given a straight run from the warp beam through the slasher to the loom beam. By straight run it is meant that the course of travel for the several ends of yarn from the let-off warp beam to the take-up loom beam does not bend laterally but always remains in substantially the same vertical plane which planes of movement for the several ends of yarns are substantially parallel, in a manner similarly to that obtained by the use of the former silk system section beam which in the present method has been eliminated.

In the drawings which show a preferred embodiment of my invention,

Fig. 1 is a plan view of the machine at the warp beam end or forward portion;

Fig. 2 is a similar plan view at the reed carriage end;

Fig. 3 is a side elevation at the forward portion of the machine looking toward the small end of the beam;

Fig. 4 is the opposite side elevation partly cut away looking at the large end of the beam;

Fig. 5 is a side elevation at the rear portion, also partly in section, of the forward portion of the machine along the line 55 of Fig. 2; and

Fig. 6 is a front elevation of the pot eye board which guides the yarns separately through the reeds.

Referring more particularly to the drawings, the main frame of the machine is indicated at I, on the top of which are the trunnion bearings 2 and 3 receiving the ends of axial shaft 4 of the warp beam, the latter being indicated generically at 5 in Fig. 1. The warp beam is formed with a smooth continuous surface, one portion being a cylinder as at 6 which merges at one end into a diverging cone portion 1. The peripheral surface of the beam may be constructed of wooden staves fitting closely together and supported upon the rims of steel pulley-like spider frames 8, 9, HI and H, the latter being fixed to the axial shaft 4. At one end of the warp beam is fixed an enlarged brake wheel I2 and at the other end adjacent the enlarged end of the cone is a flange l3 having fixed at the outside thereof a ratchet wheel l4 adapted to cooperate with let off devices on the slasher when the beam is remounted in said slasher. Around the brake wheel I2 of the beam is extended the brake band l5 provided with releasing levers l6 and [6.

It will be understood that when the beam is fully loaded it may be removed from the machine and transferred to a slasher or machine for sizing the warp as it passes to the loom beam. For this purpose the trunnion bearings 2 and 3 have hinged caps and may be opened to allow the beam to be lifted out from the frame. At the time of removing the warp beam the brake band is sufiiciently loosened on its brake wheel so that it may be disengaged therefrom.

The warp beam is rotated in the direction of the arrow (Fig. 3) by positively acting driving means which is automatically regulated to r0- tate the beam at a progressively slower speed as the warp builds up on the same. The purpose of this is to so regulate the rotating speed of the beam that the delivery of yarn from the reel to the beam will be at the same rate or yardage per minute from the start to the finish of the beaming operation. In this manner the tension on the yarn is practically the same throughout the warping operation. Due to the increase in diameter of the beam as it builds up it is necessary to rotate the beam at a progressively slower angular speed in order to maintain the warping speed of the yarn substantially uniform. As shown in Fig. 3 this driving means may comprise a change speed mechanism such as a Reeves drive indicated generally at I1, and connected to the warp beam through driving chain l8 and gears I9, 20, 2| and 22. At the right side of the machine shown in Fig. 1, the warp beam shaft 4 is connected through a disengageable clutch 23 to a gear train for operating the traversing mechanism, said. gear train being indicated at 24, 25, 26, 21, 28 and 29, the last named gear being fixed to the worm shaft 30 of the traversing mechanism. The intermediate gear 21 in said train is fixed to a shaft 3| which extends across the machine and operates through a train of gearing 32, 33, 34, 35 and 36, the adjusting devices for the Reeves drive whereby said change speed mechanism is automatically varied during the rotation of the warp beam. A hand operated device 31 is also provided to adjust the change speed mechanism andreset the same at the end of a beaming operation for each section. trol treadle fixed to treadle shaft 39 at the bottom of frame I and operating through the usual connections for starting and stopping the operation of the beam, it being unnecessary to describe the connections thereof in detail as these are well understood and of standard construction in warping machinery. Also driven from the cross shaft 3| through sprockets and chain H and gear ll is a counter mechanism 12 for registering the number of revolutions of said warp beam.

The reed carriage for my improved warping machine is in many respects similar to such constructions as are commonly used, but differs therefrom in at least one important respect which is essential in the successful beaming of the warp as herein described. It has been customary to give the reed carriage during the winding of the warp a slight traverse axially of the beam for effecting a spiral winding of the warp, but in the present construction the carriage is simultaneously moved both longitudinally of and away from the beam during the beaming operation so that the yarn sheet will be served or delivered to the beam by guiding devices on the carriage which at all times will have the same relative location with respect to the surface of the warp being wound, from the beginning to the end of the winding operation for each warp section. This is to insure that the yarns will be led to the beam under uniform and even tension at all times without crossing or rolling upon one another and that the pitch of the spiral winding for the convolutions in effecting the coned ends of the sections will also be uniform and produce sections with each convolution thereof in smooth even parallelism with the axis of the beam whereby the several sections of equal yardage will present an outer cylindrical surface of uniform radius from end to end of the beam.

38 indicates the usual operators con- A feature of importance in the yarn guiding means for the above purposes is the provision of means to keep each yarn separate in its course from the creel up to the point where it is laid on the beam by the beam serving member. This is accomplished by mounting a pot eye board between the creel and the block reed, said board having a separate pot eye guide for each separate yarn. In this way the several yarns as shown in Fig. 5 have no chance for mingling up to the point where they combine in the flattened yarn sheet on. the beam serving member.

It is extremely important in beaming from a warp beam to a loom beam that the several yarns or ends be separate from one another in the warp and shall unwind from a surface which is of the same circumference for all yarns alike so that the tension in unwinding shall be uniform for all the yarns. It is partly the difliculty of insuring this uniformity in tension for the yarns that the previous practice has resorted to the extra beaming operation previously referred to. In my improved machine I have accomplished the desired results directly on the warp beam by insuring a continual uniformity of winding conditions from the beginning to the end of the beaming operation.

Extending horizontally from the upper portion 1 ofthe frame I is a rearward extension having supported thereon horizontally fixed tie rods 4| and 42. The worm shaft 30 is also mounted for rotation in this rear extension frame 40. The reed carriage is formed as a compound slide frame, one element 43 of which travels longitudinally of the beam in parallelism with the beam axis and the other element 44 of which slides in the first named element 43 and in a direction toward and away from the beam. The carriage element 43 is engaged by means of sliding bracket 45 with the tie rod 4| so as to be guided thereby and is also provided with a bracket 46 having slidable engagement with the worm shaft 30. The bracket 46 carries a worm wheel 41 which tangentially meshes with the worm on shaft 3|). An adjustable clamping device operated by hand wheel 48 serves to fix the worm wheel 41 against rotation or to permit of its rotation. When fixed against rotation the worm wheel 41 in coaction with the worm shaft 30 serves to give travel to the slide 43 lengthwise of said tie rods. When the worm wheel 41 is loosened for rotation it may be rolled on the worm shaft 30 as a rack for permitting the carriage element 43 to slide rapidly into any position at which it is desired to set the same for the beginning of an operation.

A fixed path controlling member in the form of a slide rod 49 is mounted on the extension frame 40, one end of said rod 49 having a bracket 50 for being clamped to the tie rod 4| and the other end having a bracket 5| for being clamped to tie rod 42. The carriage element 44 is in the form of a long bar with a dove-tailed sliding engagement within the element 43. Upon the upper side of said element 44 is mounted a U-shaped engager 52 which slides upon said path controlling rod 49.

" It will be obvious from the foregoing that as the worm shaft 30 feeds the carriage element 43 longitudinally of the beam the element 44 through its engager 52 will be simultaneously moved toward or away from the beam. The resultant path of movement for the element 44 of the reed carriage is determined by the inclined position of the path controlling rod 49 and this rod is fixed in the frame so as to be at the same angle of inclination to the axis of the beam as the slope of the conical surface 1 of the beam, whereby the path for said element 44 andparts carried therewith will be one of translation in parallelism with the slope of said conical surface 1.

Upon the element 44 of the reed carriage and at the forward end thereof so as to be in spaced proximityto the beam, is mounted a beam serving member for serving the yarn sheet directly on the beam, and is in the form of a wooden roller 53 under which the yarn passes so as to run in an upward direction to the beam during the winding operation. This roller 53 is mounted with its axis parallel to the beam axis and this parallelism is maintained during its movement of translation with the reed carriage as above described. The roller 53 may also be conveniently used as a measuring roller for registering the yardage of the yarn served on the beam and for said purpose its circumference may be of a measured length, say onehalf yard. It is geared at one end as at 54, 55 to a yardage counter 56. Slightly to the rear of said roller 53 and also mounted on the carriage element 44 is the usual condensing reed 51. As shown in the drawings this reed 51 is slightly less in width than the serving roll 53, and except for a slight spreading out of the yarn sheet as it flattens over said roll 53, the said condensing reed substantially determines the width of the yarn sheet being wound on the beam. A bracket 58 fixed to said element 44 supports a lease rod holder 59. Still further to the rear is a bracket 60 supporting the block reed 6|. A rearward extending frame 52 from said element 44 supports thereon a pot eye board 33 having a separate pot eye guide for each yarn. The course of the yarns through the pot eye board and reeds to the beam serving member and to the beam is shown in Fig. 5, the dotted line position of the serving roller 53 showing the course of the yarns at the beginning of the winding operation for a section. As therein shown the yarns are kept in separate courses from the creel through the pot eye board and block reed; the sheet is condensed in width by the condensing reed and the yarns are eventually formed in a flattened yarn sheet by the roller 53 to be served on the beam. The rear portion of the carriage element 43 ispreferably provided with a supplemental supporting leg 64 having at its lower end a roller 65 riding 'on the fioor so as to relieve the strain at the rear end of said extended reed carriage. A bracket 36 may be suitably fixed to said leg 64 for'holding skewers 61 upon which spools of different colored lease cords may be mounted so as to be within convenient reach of the operator when picking a lease. Collars 68, 69 and 69' with a stop rod 19 are slidably mounted for different adjustment positions on the tie rod 42 as a resetting device for the traversing travel of the reed carriage.

In beaming the warp on the present machine the reed carriage is set for starting the first section at the right hand end of the cylindrical portion of the beam looking forwardly. It is important in starting this section that the first convolution or yarn sheet shall be laid on the beam with its right hand edge at the exact juncture of said cylinder and cone portion of the beam as indi cated at X in Fig. 1. Also at this time the reed carriage and its serving roller 53 should be near the left hand end of the guide rod 49 so as to be ready for its inclined travel outwardly. The position of the serving roller 53 relative to the beam 5 at the start of a warp section is shown in dotted lines in Fig. 5 where it will be seen that the course of the yarn sheet from serving roller to the beam is upward in almost a vertical plane. During the winding of the section this same relation of the serving member to the mass of thread on the beam is maintained substantially without change from the beginning to the end of the operation by reason of the traversing mechanism described. Then as the beaming proceeds the section will be built up with its conical ends as described, the concave portion of said section overlying the conical surface of the beam. The revolutions of the beam may be automatically counted by the usual mechanism for this purpose whereby the operator at predetermined intervals may stop the operation and insert lease cords in the usual manner. The lease cords extending from the convex end of each section as wound may be extended through corresponding convolutions of each next successive section as wound so that eventually said lease cords will extend through the entire warp from end to end of the beam and will be in alignment through the several sections. This will enable the warp beam when loaded to be transferred without change to a slasher and have all of its several sections beamed off together for supplying the loom beam with the lease cords all properly inserted therein. As previously indicated, the slasher let off mechanism (not herein shown) is preferably constructed to give the same traverse (but in a reverse direction) to the warp beam as it received during the winding on of each section.

A Warp beam of the above description because of its compact and rigid construction may be rotated at a much higher speed than the usual mill or reel type warper and may also be loaded with a much greater poundage or yardage of yarn without making the same unwieldy for handling and transferring to the slasher. In a warp beam of the dimensions described it will also be possible to load on suflicient yardage of warp to successively supply five (5) of the ordinary loom beams at the slasher. In the present machine the warp may be wound successfully at speeds of 350 yards a minute or faster and in operation can be made to equal the capacity of any of the modern high speed creels at present developed whereby the speed of the warping need no longer be limited by the warping machine to the exclusion of the creel as heretofore but by the creel as well.

It is to be understood that the present disclosure of the invention is for the purposes of illustration and that this invention includes all modifications and equivalents which fall within the scope of the appended claims.

I claim:

1. In a warping machine in combination, a rotating warp beam having a cylindrical outer surface merging into a diverging conical end, the outer diameter of said conical end being not less than approximately twice the diameter of said cylindrical surface, said warp beam adapted to .-be filled to the outer diameter of its conical end with a plurality of conically ended warp sections successively wound thereon in nested end to end relation, variable speed driving means for said rotating warp beam to maintain a substantially uniform winding speed of the yarns being Wound on said beam as each warp section builds up from the diameter of the cylindrical core to the outer diameter of the conical end of said beam, means for winding a sheet of yarns simultaneously into a warp section on said beam and for successively forming said warp sections each with conically shaped ends for nested relation on said beam, said means comprising a traveling carriage carrying thereon a condensing reed, and spaced forwardly thereof a serving roll positioned in close proximity to said beam, said roll being arranged to guide the yarns from said reed around a substantial arc of contact to bring said yarns into a flat sheet in directing the same onto said beam, traversing mechanism actuated during the winding operation to impart translative travel to said can riage in a straight path at an angle to said beam axis which is approximately the same as the slope of the conical surface of said beam, whereby said serving roll is maintained in approximately the same guiding position relative to the yarn wound on said beam from the beginning to the end of the winding operation.

2. In a warping machine in combination, a rotating warp beam having a cylindrical outer surface merging into a diverging conical end, the outer diameter of said conical end being not less than approximately twice the diameter of said cylindrical surface, said Warp beam adapted to be filled to the outer diameter of its conical end with a plurality of conically ended warp sections successively wound thereon in nested end to end relation, variable speed driving means for said rotating warp beam to maintain a substantially uniform winding speed of the yarns being wound on said beam as each warp section builds up from the diameter of the cylindrical core to the outer diameter of the conical end of said beam, means for winding a sheet of yarns simultaneously into a warp section on said beam and for successively forming said warp sections each with conically shaped ends for nested relation on said beam, said means comprising a traveling carriage carrying thereon a condensing reed, and spaced forwardly thereof a serving roll positioned in close proximity to said beam, said roll being arranged to guide the yarns from said reed around a substantial arc of contact to bring said yarns into a fiat sheet in directing the same onto said beam, traversing mechanism actuated during the winding operation to impart translative travel to said carriage in a straight path at an angle to said beam axis which is approximately the same as the slope of the conical surface of said beam, whereby said serving roll is maintained in approximately the same guiding position relative to the yarn wound on said beam from the beginning to the end of the winding operation, and gearing connections between said warp beam driving means and said traversing mechanism.

3. In a warping machine in combination, a rotating warp beam having a cylindrical outer surface merging into a diverging conical end, the outer diameter of said conical end being not less than approximately twice the diameter of said cylindrical surface, said warp beam adapted to be filled to the outer diameter of its conical end with a plurality of conically ended warp sections successively wound thereon in nested end to end relation, variable speed driving means for said rotating warp beam to maintain a substantially uniform winding speed of the yarns being wound on said beam as each warp section builds up from the diameter of the cylindrical core to the outer diameter of the conical end of said beam, means for winding a sheet of yarns simultaneously into a Warp section on said beam and for successively forming said warp sections each with conically shaped ends for nested relation on said beam, said means comprising a traveling carriage carrying thereon a condensing reed, and spaced forwardly thereof a serving roll positioned in close proximity to said beam, said roll being arranged to guide the yarns from said reed around a substantial arc of contact to bring said yarns into a fiat sheet in directing the same onto said beam, traversing mechanism actuated during the winding operation to impart translative travel to said carriage in a straight path at an angle to said beam axis which is approximately the same as the slope of the conical surface of said beam, whereby said serving roll is maintained in approximately the same guiding position relative to the yarn wound on said beam from the beginning to the end of the winding operation, said traversing mechanism comprising a compound horizontal slide, one element of which is moved parallel to said beam axis and the other element of which is moved at right angles thereto, said driving means for said warp beam having connections for simultaneously moving the elements of said compound slide during the winding operation.

4. In a warping machine in combination, a rotating warp beam having a cylindrical outer surface merging into a diverging conical end, the outer diameter of said conical end being not less than approximately twice the diameter of said cylindrical surface, said warp beam adapted to be filled to the outer diameter of its conical end with a plurality of conically ended warp sections successively wound thereon in nested end to end relation, variable speed driving means for said rotating warp beam to maintain a substantially uniform winding speed of the yarns being wound on said beam as each warp section builds up from the diameter of the cylindrical core to the outer diameter of the conical end of said beam, means for winding a sheet of yarns simultaneously into a warp section on said beam and for successively forming said warp sections each with conically shaped ends for nested relation on said beam, said means comprising a traveling carriage carrying thereon a condensing reed, and spaced forwardly thereof a serving roll positioned in close proximity to said beam, said roll being arranged to guide the yarns from said reed around a substantial arc of contact to bring said yarns into a flat sheet in directing the same onto said beam, said serving roller being of predetermined measured circumference and being connected with a metering device to measure the length of yarns served on said beam, traversing mechanism actuated during the winding operation to impart translative travel to said carriage in a straight path at an angle to said beam axis which is approximately the same as the slope of the conical surface of said beam, whereby said serving roll is maintained in approximately the same guiding position relative to the yarn wound on said beam from the beginning to the end of the winding operation.

5. In a warping machine in combination, a rotating warp beam having a cylindrical outer surface merging into a diverging conical end, the outer diameter of said conical end being not less than approximately twice the diameter of said cylindrical surface, said warp beam adapted to be filled to the outer diameter of its conical end with a plurality of conically ended warp sections successively wound thereon in nested end to end relation, variable speed driving means for said rotating warp beam to maintain a substantially uniform winding speed of the yarns being wound on said beam as each warp section builds up from the diameter of the cylindrical core to the outer diameter of the conical end of said beam, means for winding a sheet of yarns simultaneously into a warp section on said beam and for successively forming said Warp sections each with conically shaped ends for nested relation on said beam, said means comprising a traveling carriage carrying thereon a condensing reed, and a serving roll positioned forwardly of said reed and in close proximity to said beam and slightly below the axis of said beam whereby the yarns passing over said serving roll are flattened into a sheet which is directed upwardly to said beam in a substantially vertical plane, traversing mechanism actuated during the winding operation to impart translative travel to said carriage in a straight path at an angle to said beam axis which is approximately the same as the slope of the conical surface of said beam, whereby said serving roll is maintained in approximately the same guiding position relative to the yarn wound on said beam from the beginning to the end of the winding operation.

6. In a warping machine in combination, a rotating warp beam having a cylindrical outer surface merging into a diverging conical end, the outer diameter of said conical end being not less than approximately twice the diameter of said cylindrical sruface, said warp beam adapted to be filled to the outer diameter of its conical end with a plurality of conically ended warp sections successively wound thereon in nested end to end relation, variable speed driving means for said rotating warp beam to maintain a substantially uniform winding speed of the yarns being wound on said beam as each warp section builds up from the diameter of the cylindrical core to the outer diameter of the conical end of said beam, means for winding a sheet of yarns simultaneously into a warp section on said beam and for successively forming said warp sections each with conically shaped ends for nested relation on said beam, said means comprising a traveling carriage carrying thereon a condensing reed, and spaced forwardly thereof a serving roll positioned in close proximity to said beam, said roll being arranged to guide the yarns from said reed around a substantial arc of contact to bring said yarns into a flat sheet in directing the same onto said beam, and traversing mechanism actuated during the winding operation to impart translative travel to said carriage, said traversing mechanism comprising a compound slide for said carriage which includes a slidable primary element and a secondary element slidable on said primary element, a screw feed mechanism operated from said main warp beam driving means for actuating the primary element of said compound slide, and a fixed guide member for determining the path of the secondary element of said compound slide so as to obtain a path for translative travel of said carriage which is at an angle to said beam axis but approximately equal to the slope of the conical surface of said beam.

EUGENE R. ALDERMAN. 

